A fourth collection of diverse poems by a poet who evokes memories of family life, a longing for atmospheric places and moving emotional experiences, including a sequence of poems in memory of his mother.

Pedwerydd casgliad o gerddi amrywiol gan fardd sy'n deffro atgofion am fywyd teuluol, dyhead am fannau llawn awyrgylch a phrofiadau emosiynol dwfn, ynghyd â dilyniant o gerddi er cof am ei fam.

This is Henry’s fourth collection of poems, and confirms him as a rewarding and engaging poet of the personal life and the lyrical moment.

Many of the poems are set in the context of the urban, the domestic, but all the strongest launch successfully out into realms of wider significance, the surreal even. The title poem observes an old dog’s leash which is now used to suspend a nut cage for the birds visiting the garden. The evocation of the "whiffs of him / for all the wind and rain - / sea dog, country dog." Fire memories push the poet into introspection: "What misfits we’d have made, / haunting this town’s streets, / our walks cut into neat / desperate portions of breath." The location of metonym, that launch into significance, is a strategy which Henry employs time and again. He is the poet of lyrical discoveries.

Occasionally, he strains the poem and our credulity a touch too far - for example, "A Window on the Sea", and "Loving the beekeeper", which never quite settle their comic purpose; but when he fixes a memory in a short poem such as "Llangors", the effect is clear and poignant. Two young lovers in an ice-gripped boat which "would have done for a bed / but, older than our years, / we knew, or thought we did, / that the moon on the lake was enough."

Paul Henry can be the master of the very short lyric; has he read Michael Longley, I wonder? The Longley of "The weather in Japan" and "Gorse Fires". A fine poem such as "Boys" would seem to be pointing the way. I shall quote it in its entirety:

I need them, to muscle in on this silence,
to measure the softening tissue in my arms
when I carry them up to their beds,
when the old house creaks like a galleon
after a storm.

Set adrift on their dreams
their faces turn soft again
So that one kiss carries the weight
of all we try to make light of.

Now buy the book.

Tony Curtis

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.